Monthly Archives: December 2016

Florida’s size and large percentage of elderly residents could vault the state to the second-largest U.S. medical cannabis market by 2020, a new report shows.

By 2020, Florida could be tallying $1.6 billion in medical marijuana sales — and have a 7.5 percent share of the overall U.S. legal cannabis market and a 14 percent share of the U.S. medical pot market, according to data released Tuesday from New Frontier Data and The Arcview Group, firms that specialize in conducting market research of the burgeoning cannabis industry.

Florida’s Amendment 2, a measure to legalize medical marijuana for certain ailments such as cancer and Crohn’s disease, overwhelmingly passed on Nov. 8, with nearly 6.5 million votes, or 71.2 percent, in favor. Florida previously allowed non-smoked, low-THC cannabis — containing 0.8 percent or less of THC and at least 10 percent of cannabidiol (CBD) — for people with cancer, a physical medical condition that chronically causes spasms or seizures, or those who are terminally ill.

PROVIDENCE — The state has approved two applications for the first medical marijuana cultivators under emergency regulations it issued in late October while citing fears that dispensaries could run out of the drug without a steady supply from outside growers.

The sense of urgency stemmed from a law that bans caregivers who have turned their grows into businesses from selling to the dispensaries as of Jan. 1. It’s one of a series of regulatory changes to the state’s decade-old medical program that’s intended to curb the flow of marijuana into the black market.

There are currently more than 2,850 registered caregivers in the state who can grow marijuana. The roughly 16,120 medical marijuana patients can also grow the drug.

Matt Sheaff, a spokesman for the state Department of Business Regulation, which is now overseeing commercial marijuana operations, declined to provide specifics about the approved applications, including the names of the businesses, their registered agents and their locations.

An approved application does not guarantee that a license will be issued. That final step comes after the approved applicant schedules and passes a state inspection within nine months. Sheaff said more information about the license holders can be released at that point.

Jeremy Faison is an unlikely cannabis crusader in the red state of Tennessee.

As a Republican member of the Tennessee House of Representatives, Faison is an NRA-endorsed, President-elect Trump supporter. He also wants to bring medical marijuana legalization to the Volunteer State.

It’s a tough sell.

In 2015, the state passed a CBD-only law, which allows patients with uncontrollable seizures to use the non-psychoactive cannabis derivative. But it’s still illegal to make or purchase it in Tennessee.

In September, Nashville became the first city in Tennessee to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of cannabis. Memphis followed suit a few weeks later. The decriminalization measures removed the misdemeanor charge, and fines of $50 and community service for possession of less than a half ounce. Before the change, those caught with any amount of cannabis would be facing a misdemeanor with up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine. The measures allow police and prosecutors to use their discretion on a case-by-case basis, including bringing a misdemeanor charge. But those efforts have been blocked by state Attorney General Herbert Slatery, who claims the contradiction between the legality of cannabis on the state and city levels is unlawful.